Hugh Lewis/Jefferson Jimplecute
Water, water, everywhere, and maybe the right to drink.
A Local Option Election to legalize “the legal sale of all alcoholic beverages including mixed beverages” in Justice of the Peace Precinct No. 1 will be on the ballot in May as Commissioners accepted and approved calling the election following the successful submission of a petition by Jeff at the end of 2022.
If approved, the option would eliminate the last “dry” section of the county.
“Jeff submitted the petition and necessary signatures last year,” said Elections Administrator Karen Jones, “but we are required to wait 30 days before submitting it for certification. That meant we missed the deadline to have it on the November election. I waited until this year to put it on the May election, rather than calling a special election.”
Jeff Ellis, owner of Brushy Landing, was required to submit signatures accounting for 35% of the registered voters who voted for governor in the last election in JP1 precinct, or 908 signatures. Ellis submitted 922.
The option will join both City and JISD ballots in the May 6 election which Jones has contracted with to oversee those elections and Commissioners also approved. The combined balloting will save each entity approximately 2/3 of their normal election expenses.
If you speed on Liberty Road you may have to slow down soon as Kevin Thompson requested Commissioners consider reducing the speed limit from 35 mph to 20 mph.
“There’s a saltwater disposal site on the road,” Thompson said, “and in slow times we have maybe 1-2 trucks per hour and in busy times 6-8 trucks per hour at any given time coming down the road. There’s a curve in the road right as it reduces from 45 mph [on FM 728]. And it’s a narrow road. A lot of the trucks don’t slow down. This would give us one more tool to help control the speed of trucks on the road.”
Marion County Judge Leward LaFleur said he’d discuss the issue with Commissioner Jacob Pattison and Marion County Sheriff David Capps and see what they wanted to do to address the issue. No action was taken during the meeting on the matter.
Construction and modernization were also up for discussion as Commissioners approved Marion County Auditor Shanna Solomon issuing bid requests to modernize the Jail and Jail Annex elevators suing the ARPA Revenue Loss Federal Funds.
“We put this in the budget so we wouldn’t be in a situation like we were in the courthouse and have to pry the doors open almost every day to get people out,” said LaFleur.
Bid notices will appear in next week’s Jimplecute.
Harleton WSC also got approval on a Memorandum of Understanding with the County as they apply for a Texas Community Development Block Grant for 2023/2024.
LaFleur said the County was under no financial responsibility for matching funds or other expenses associated with the grant if it was received.
Lastly, Capps said some updating was occurring at the jail on aging plumbing. “Some of it is so old it is starting to fall part,” Capps said. He also reported he is completing a report to the Texas Jail Standards Commission so they can provide an updated future needs and requirements report back to the County.
LaFleur said he wanted Commissioners to start thinking about individuals to put on a Citizens Action Group to get input from County residents on what they felt the County needed to provide as a jail and how much the taxpayers would be willing to fund.
“I don’t want to even consider putting this county into the first debt it’s had in 30 years without taxpayer agreement,” said LaFleur. “You’ve heard me rail against the State of Texas for telling us what we must do and provide for inmate comfort. We have to do something but we don’t need to be spending $15 million to do that. I want to know what the residents think and feel we should do and when. If there’s a way to do it gradually, in a fiscally responsible way, then that’s what we need to be doing.”
Capps is also working to remodel the former Tax Office into a new set of offices for the Sheriff’s Office.
Capps also provided Commissioners with the 2022 Racial Profiling Report as required by law. No action was taken on Pct 2 Constable Jeff Greer’s exemption request from the report as he was not present for the meeting.
Capps reported there were 313 traffic stops made in 2022 with a racial breakdown of one Asian, 47 black, 241 white and 24 Latino. There were 86 females and 227 males stopped. Only 28 searches resulted from the stops. The full report is linked below.
Capps also requested Commissioners approve a new agreement with Net Data on the new software installed in the MCSO office. The agreement also includes an inter-local agreement with Franklin County Law Enforcement Center and Sulphur Springs Police Department on shared cloud storage for the system to save on storage costs.
Capps said the overall costs are higher than previously, but it’s more useful overall.
Other business
- • enter into minutes CEU hours for Susan Anderson, Karen Jones
- • approval of bond for Jennifer Bedford, Deputy County Clerk
- • financial accounts status and payments for county
- • minutes from January 6 meeting
- • Investment Policy, Strategy and Resultion for 2023. No changes from previous year
- • approved additional end of year budget ammendments and transfers
- • approved annual GLO Contract for $75,000 Community Development Block Grant for Local Hazard Mitigation Planning Program
- • renewed the ACARTS annual program, at no cost to the County
Commissioner Pattison was absent for health related issues.